Tag: Space

This is titled Drive and according to the PR blurb, features a high-tempo driving beat and a catchy instrumental hook.

“The single really captures the sensation of being behind the wheel and just driving. The soaring chorus in Drive brings to mind the feeling of being out on the open road, far away from life’s small problems,” it said.

That follows the release of his single, titled Voyager at the Heliopause, in June as a tribute to the NASA Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977 and which last year departed the solar system and is now travelling in interstellar space.

Last year he released his debut album titled VHS, a collection of instrumental tracks he began writing back in 2003 while travelling for work as an aerospace engineer in the US.

Each track was written in a different location, titled with the name of a city, airport code or local attraction and captures the vibe of each place and moment in time.

Dr Boshuizen grew up in Tumbarumba , NSW, and developed an early passion for space inspired by Voyager’s mission.

He dreamed of becoming an astronaut and since most US astronauts started out as pilots in the US Air Force, he sought to join the RAAF to become a fighter. He quickly discovered that could never be as he is colour blind.

After completing a doctorate in physics at the University of Sydney he scored a job at the NASA Ames Research Center in northern California, working on a range of projects, including a lunar lander, an electric airplane and the world’s smallest satellite called PhoneSat.

The nickname Dr Chrispy came from NASA co-workers.

In 2014 he won the Advance Global Award as a the Greatest Australian Not Living in Australia.

“I was always interested in space as a child. I remember reading about the Voyager I and II spacecraft reaching Saturn, Jupiter and Neptune, and being fascinated by the idea of one day going myself,” he said in an interview with the UK techno music website Steel City Collective.

“So from an early age I decided I wanted to work in the space industry. I am Australian, but Australia doesn’t have much space activity so after finishing my education I moved to the US.

“One of the coolest things I did was put an Android Nexus One smartphone into orbit around the Earth as a stand-alone satellite. This was a spacecraft that was almost like Sputnik with a camera, and it only cost $500.”

That developed from the realisation of Dr Boshuizen and NASA researchers that the typical smartphone from earlier this decade had more processing power and memory than the typical satellite of that era.

Three were launched in 2013, followed by a further two. These weren’t destined for long life – they had only onboard batteries for power – but were cheap and demonstrated that consumer grade electronics could function in space.

In 2010, he and two other NASA scientists founded Planet Labs, which runs a constellation of satellites producing Earth imagery.

All the while, Dr Boshuizen retained a passion for electronic music, doing much of his composing on a laptop while traveling.

For Immediate Release – San Francisco, CA – DR CHRISPY (aka Dr. Chris Boshuizen) is an award-winning aeronautical engineer, music producer, and songwriter who has spent the last 16 years tragically torn between two loves: Music and Space Exploration. His new single “DRIVE” will release online everywhere music is streamed and sold on August 30, 2019. With a high-tempo driving beat and a catchy instrumental hook, the single really captures the sensation of being behind the wheel and just driving. The soaring chorus in “DRIVE” brings to mind the feeling of being out on the open road, far away from life’s small problems. “Sometimes we just need to get away from it all,” says DR CHRISPY, and he captures that sentiment perfectly on this new track.

DR CHRISPY runs his home studio in San Francisco where he is actively writing and recording new music. DR CHRISPY’s first full-length album VHS released in 2018 and was widely praised by national and international reviewers. A collection of mostly instrumental tracks, Chris began writing VHS in 2003 while traveling as an aerospace engineer. The tracks were written all around the world and capture the vibe of each place and moment in time.

Exclusive Magazine calls VHS, “a wonderfully ambient, bouncy, fun, even thoughtful at times collection of instrumental tracks,” while BabySue.com says, “Whether you’re out clubbing or at home trying to get things done, these nifty little rhythmic creations will likely be just what the doctor ordered to get things going.” VHS plays like an auditory travel diary, inviting you along to hear and experience the evolution from Dr. Chris Boshuizen, Space Scientist, to DR CHRISPY, the Artist.

DR CHRISPY released his next single “Voyager at the Heliopause” in June 2019. The track is a tribute to the NASA Voyager spacecraft, which launched in 1977 and has since returned stunning images from the solar system, inspiring Chris to pursue his passion for space. Accompanied by a music video featuring historically accurate animated recreations of those classic images, “Voyager at the Heliopause” is a soothing and ambient electro space jazz track.

Having worked at NASA for almost five years inventing new kinds of spacecraft, Chris went on to cofound the company Planet Labs, which launched and monitors over 200 spacecraft that create a daily map of the global environment. During all this, Chris spent nearly every spare moment writing music on the one instrument he always had with him: his laptop. Much of his music was written at airports or on planes, and over a 16-year period he has amassed an impressive catalog of material with over 300 tracks.

Wanting to get some of his music out to the world, Chris decided to pursue his art full-time, adopting the nickname “Chrispy” that was given to him by his NASA co-workers. Unlike other notable “doctors” in the music industry, DR CHRISPY has a PhD in Physics, and in 2014 he won the Advance Global Award for being the Greatest Australian Not Living in Australia. After completing his PhD in Physics at the University of Sydney he found a position at NASA Ames Research Center in Northern California, one of NASA’s 10 centers around the US. There Chris worked on several fascinating projects, including a lunar lander, an electric airplane, and he also co-invented the world’s smallest satellite called PhoneSat.

With the success of PhoneSat, Chris and his friends were emboldened to try something ambitious, so they left NASA to start Planet Labs. Today Planet Labs has launched over 200 satellites that were designed under Chris’s leadership. Leveraging his years of experience with computer music, Chris has taught the introductory workshop on electronic music production at the last two annual Taxi Road Rallies in Los Angeles.

Chris has no regrets about pursuing his space career, but always felt music would one day become his focus. With a lifetime of music production experience and a lower-stress job that afforded him a bit more free time, he assumed his alter-ego as DR CHRISPY and suddenly entered a prolific phase of writing with the feeling he now had something to say. DR CHRISPY’s goal as an artist is to connect music and tech while bringing a message of hope and empowerment to his audience.

In 2016, DR CHRISPY began creating lyrical songs in addition to his instrumental music. This material will be released on his next album project. Chris still hopes one day to take himself beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, and feels he still has the passion to start another space company one day. You can catch more of Chris’s space and technology thoughts on his personal twitter account at twitter.com/cboshuizen.

“DRIVE” will release online everywhere music is streamed and sold on August 30, 2019.

For Immediate Release – San Francisco, CA – DR CHRISPY (aka Dr. Chris Boshuizen) is an award-winning aeronautical engineer, music producer, and songwriter who has spent the last 16 years tragically torn between two loves: Music and Space Exploration. His new single “VOYAGER AT THE HELIOPAUSE” will release online everywhere music is streamed and sold on June 14, 2019. The single is a tribute to the NASA Voyager spacecraft that launched in 1977 and returns stunning images from our solar system that inspired Chris to pursue his passion for space. Accompanied by a music video featuring historically accurate animated recreations of those classic images, “VOYAGER AT THE HELIOPAUSE” is a soothing and ambient electro space jazz track.

DR CHRISPY runs his home studio in San Francisco where he is actively writing and recording new music. DR CHRISPY’s first full-length album VHS released in 2018 and was widely praised by national and international reviewers. A collection of mostly instrumental tracks, Chris began writing VHS in 2003 while traveling as an aerospace engineer. The tracks were written all around the world and capture the vibe of each place and moment in time. Exclusive Magazine calls VHS, “a wonderfully ambient, bouncy, fun, even thoughtful at times collection of instrumental tracks,” while BabySue.com says, “Whether you’re out clubbing or at home trying to get things done, these nifty little rhythmic creations will likely be just what the doctor ordered to get things going.” VHS plays like an auditory travel diary, inviting you along to hear and experience the evolution from Dr. Chris Boshuizen, Space Scientist, to DR CHRISPY, the Artist.

Having worked at NASA for almost five years inventing new kinds of spacecraft, Chris went on to cofound the company Planet Labs, which launched and monitors over 200 spacecraft that create a daily map of the global environment. During all this, Chris spent nearly every spare moment writing music on the one instrument he always had with him: his laptop. Much of his music was written at airports or on planes, and over a 16-year period he has amassed an impressive catalog of material with over 300 tracks. Wanting to get some of his music out to the world, Chris decided to pursue his art full-time, adopting the nickname “Chrispy” that was given to him by his NASA co-workers. Unlike other notable “doctors” in the music industry, DR CHRISPY has a PhD in Physics, and in 2014 he won the Advance Global Award for being the Greatest Australian Not Living in Australia.

Chris bought his own computer in 1998, but using it for homework was an afterthought. Instead he built an audio workstation complete with an 8-channel studio sound card and mixing desk and set out to learn studio engineering and mixing. He also took up frequent guitar lessons, but over time his music workstation was replaced with a laptop, and as his space career took off, Chris naturally developed a new habit of producing electronic music while traveling. After completing his PhD in Physics at the University of Sydney he found a position at NASA Ames Research Center in Northern California, one of NASA’s 10 centers around the US. There Chris worked on several fascinating projects, including a lunar lander, an electric airplane, and he also co-invented the world’s smallest satellite called PhoneSat.

With the success of PhoneSat, Chris and his friends were emboldened to try something ambitious, so they left NASA to start Planet Labs. Today Planet Labs has launched over 200 satellites that were designed under Chris’s leadership. Leveraging his years of experience with computer music, Chris has taught the introductory workshop on electronic music production at the last two annual Taxi Road Rallies in Los Angeles.

Chris has no regrets about pursuing his space career, but always felt music would one day become his focus. With a lifetime of music production experience and a lower-stress job that afforded him a bit more free time, he assumed his alter-ego as DR CHRISPY and suddenly entered a prolific phase of writing with the feeling he now had something to say. DR CHRISPY’s goal as an artist is to connect music and tech while bringing a message of hope and empowerment to his audience.

In 2016, DR CHRISPY began creating lyrical songs in addition to his instrumental music. This material will be released on his next album project. Chris still hopes one day to take himself beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, and feels he still has the passion to start another space company one day. You can catch more of Chris’s space and technology thoughts on his personal twitter account at twitter.com/cboshuizen.

“VOYAGER AT THE HELIOPAUSE” will release online everywhere music is streamed and sold on June 14, 2019.

I almost landed this under “non-prog” because of the EDM characteristics of the set. The thing is, those are tempered by textures that are closer to things like Tangerine Dream, Vangelis and Synergy. While most of this is purely instrumental, a couple songs have vocals, most particularly the album’s closer which might be the highlight. Similarly, while the main elements here are electronic keyboard based, there is a song that features rocking guitar, too. Overall, I find this to be a considerably effective and entertaining set.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2018 Volume 6 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

Be There Soon
Keyboard textures open this in style. It works out to a classy sort of groove that’s infectious. The vocals on the cut, although pretty far down in the mix, bring some soulful vibes.

Gotta Getta Gatta
Feeling almost like an extension of the previous cut, this instrumental is so cool. The horns lend a real jazzy vibe to it.

Sleeping in Tokyo
More purely electronic, this lands well in the EDM vein. Still, it has some decidedly electronic prog elements to it, feeling not that far removed from something like Synergy. This is pretty and quite cool. It has some space rock things at play at times, too.

Blue Sky Line
While there is a definite groove to the rhythm section on this piece, the keyboard elements bring a decidedly proggy sound to the proceedings. It’s another classy electronic number.

Vanmover
I love the melodic elements on this, and the rhythmic structures bring a lot of energy and driving power. Again this makes me think of a lot of the electronic prog of acts like Tangerine Dream and Synergy. The short dropped back section at the end is all cool.

Goodbye Shanghai
I dig the funky groove on this cut. Now this one lands more fully under the EDM heading, but it still has a healthy helping of the proggier element at play.

60 Miles Up
This feels scenic and cinematic. It’s decidedly proggy and so cool. It does get more energized and EDM related further down the musical road.

Muromigawa
I love the rhythmic groove that starts this. There is a bit of a vocal bit as sort of a percussive element. This has an intriguing nature, very artsy and very cool. There are more EDM things at play on this tune.

Vancouver
We’re back into more Synergy related territory on this thing. There is a huge change later as this fires out into some serious guitar rocking prog. It drops to just a dramatic synthesizer bit around the four and a half minute mark. That takes it to the end.

Torotoroid
A distorted sounding groove starts this. An EDM groove joins. As it continues some healthy helpings of something like Kraftwerk is added to the mix. The cut evolves and grows from there.

Dreaming of Home
There is another rhythmic vocal thing here. Again I’m reminded of Synergy on this. It has some energy and groove, but is more firmly on the proggy versus EDM side of the equation. There are both world music and jazz elements in the mix here.

I’m Going Down (Under)
With some space rock in the mix, this definitely feels like shared territory between Vangelis and Tangerine Dream to me. It’s another classy cut. There is more of an EDM edge later in the number.

Sea
A bit slower, there is still a cool rhythmic groove to this thing. The cut has some great electronic textures and melodies built into it, too. It seems a solid merging of the EDM with more proggy elements. After the half way point of the cut it gets into more pure progressive rock zones with some killer synthesizer soloing.

Maui
Speaking of progressive rock, this one lands pretty fully in that camp. It has a nice flowing energy and some killer melodic excursions. The synth sounds are so tasty and this thing is one of my favorites here. There are some interesting twists and turns here, and this does get some more EDM like stuff later. I am particularly enchanted by the melodies on the closing movement.

Follow The Wild Geese
Arguably the most purely progressive rock piece here, this one features vocals of the female variety. It’s the most mainstream cut here, too. It’s also one of my favorites. It represents a great bit of variety. The vocals are quite effective, and there are some great synthesizer melodies built into this. There is a real symphonic bombast here, and this gets so powerful.